


the implication of drawing a heart

by akc



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Cat Cafés, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 12:58:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19464496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akc/pseuds/akc
Summary: Goro tightens the grip around his pen. He starts a mantra in his head: I will not be distracted by Ren holding a kitten. I will not be distracted by Ren holding a kitten. I will not—Wherein Ren works at a cat cafe, and Goro has a hard time handling it.





	the implication of drawing a heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [narukamiyu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/narukamiyu/gifts).



> for a fic exchange with pearly! a coffee shop au with a twist, essentially, and with the addition of cats and classic fictional college drama.

“You gonna finish anytime soon?” Ren asks, leaning over the marbled counter with his hands folded together.

Goro looks up at him, then to his papers, and then back at Ren, all in the span of about half a second. With a very deep and long sigh, he says, “No, I’m not,” and then returns to his notes. 

Ren laughs. He probably won’t accept that as an answer. “You’re going to break out into a sweat if you keep up this vigorous studying.”

“Yes, well, that’s the idea,” Goro mumbles, mostly to himself. He turns the page in the textbook that he’s been bent over for the past three hours and stares at the next paragraph at the top of the page. 

Finals week is upon him. It is also upon Yusuke, who silently sits next to Goro with one leg crossed over the other. Although they have quite the opposing majors, Yusuke has been a friend of Goro’s since childhood. In high school, they drifted apart a bit—partially due to the unending stress the both of them experienced—but then ended up going to colleges quite close to one another and became roommates as well.

So, naturally, they study together frequently. Though, from the looks of it, Yusuke is doing a whole lot of staring at one of the cats sitting on the floor near him and not a whole lot of studying.

Ren approaches the table they’re seated at. “Seriously, I’m not trying to be a mom here, but you’ve been studying for ages. Don’t you want to take a break?” 

And then there’s  _ Ren _ . Goro isn’t sure how to act around Ren. They’ve been friends for about half a year—they first met each other when Yusuke took Goro to this cat cafe for the first time, which happens to be where Ren works—but it feels like they’ve known each other longer. Which, of course, isn’t a bad thing, it’s just… strange. 

For as much nagging as they give one another, they get along very well, though. Goro can’t help but wonder if it helps that Ren is extremely attractive.

“He’s right,” Ann chimes in, who is laying on a bean bag and petting a very sleepy cat in her lap. “I think at this point you’re probably not helping yourself.”

Goro won’t admit to that.

He is about to say something wry in response, but is interrupted by Yusuke pointing at the cat he’s been watching. “This cat has been staring at you for a very long time, Goro,” he claims.

“He has?” Goro tries to be nonplussed. The thing about frequently coming to a cat cafe to study is that it is very difficult to not be distracted by all the cats. Goro thinks that he’s started getting it down to a science, but every now and then he gives in. 

“I noticed it too. She’s a new one.” Ren maneuvers around the table and stands behind the cat. “Her name is String Bean.”

“String Bean?” Goro raises a brow. “She doesn’t look like a string bean.”

“That’s the name she came with. I kind of like it, though.”

Ren picks up String Bean and she meows. Goro tightens the grip around his pen. He starts a mantra in his head:  _ I will not be distracted by Ren holding a kitten. I will not be distracted by Ren holding a kitten. I will not—  _

“Want to pet her?” Ren then asks with a wide, sunny smile, which renders the mantra useless. 

“If you’re inviting me to,” Goro says, dropping his pen and standing. Now that he’s physically moving away from the table, he supposes that this is the end of all the studying he’s going to be doing tonight. It’s fine. Finals aren’t for two more days, and he  _ can’t _ help being distracted by this cat. Or maybe he’s being distracted by Ren. It might be a little bit of both, but Goro is reluctant to admit to the latter.

Instead of letting him pet the cat, Ren hands String Bean over to Goro without any warning. He laughs nervously to try and hide his surprise.

The cat meows again. Ren gives her a pat on the head. “She likes you,” he says, and Goro isn’t sure how he knows this but accepts it as fact anyway. 

A lot of nights are like this—just him, Ren, Ann and Yusuke spending time together with the cats. It’s very helpful that Ann and Ren work here, so they all get to study even after the cafe closes; it’s also helpful that the manager of this place is one of the stiffest yet kind people in perhaps the whole country. Goro has only ever met him once. He had brown hair and red glasses and was immensely intimidating despite his soft heart. 

Speaking of a soft—Goro wishes that Ren would stop looking at him with his little teacup eyes. 

Ren wasn’t an issue at first. When the two of them met, they were nothing but distant friends for the longest time. It was only when Ren gave him a free drink during midterms that said  _ Good luck!  _ _ ♡ Ren  _ on the cup that Goro realized he might have a problem.

When that had happened, Goro asked Yusuke what he thought about it. He thought that Ren might be the type of person to be overly flirty, but Yusuke said that  _ he _ hadn’t gotten a free drink with a heart on it. In fact, Ren made him  _ buy _ his drink that very same day.

And that was probably when Goro became aware of his own  _ feelings  _ towards Ren. Feelings, as he has learned many times, are problems, and therefore he has been trying to suffocate them. It only works sometimes. 

For instance, the suffocating tends to work less when Ren is holding any of the cats. This happens quite frequently, though, as one may imagine.

_ I just like how nice he is to them,  _ Goro thinks while Ren continues to dote on String Bean.  _ I just like—  _

Ann coughs. Goro remembers where he is. “Hey, guys, I hate to break up your bonding, but we should close soon.” She stands up from her bean bag. “I know that, like, our manager is a nice guy, but we can’t take advantage of that.” 

“Oh, right.” Ren laughs awkwardly. “All right, String Bean, say goodbye to Goro.”

The cat meows. Goro thinks he might have a heart attack, and for multiple reasons. He lets Ren take String Bean from his arms and plop her down on the bean bag previously occupied by Ann and then makes his way back to the table to clean up his things. It seems that Yusuke took the liberty of organizing everything while Goro was preoccupied with String Bean, so all he has to do is shove his folders and textbook back into his bag.

He sighs, puts his bag over his shoulder, and turns to Yusuke. “Well, we should—”

“Let me walk you guys to the station,” Ren interjects. 

Ann snorts. 

“Are you sure?” Goro asks, stupidly. He would both love and not love it if Ren were to walk with them, and that’s an issue. “We’ll be perfectly fine if we—”

“Yes, Ren, that’d be great,” Yusuke says, and Goro wonders if he’s going to be able to finish  _ any _ of his sentences tonight. “Could you carry my canvas?” 

Ren makes a face that says  _ I would really rather not  _ but he picks up the blanket-covered canvas resting against the wall nevertheless. He turns to Ann. “You can close everything, right?”

She waves her hand around dismissively and Goro assumes that means yes. With some more sighing, he heads out the door, saying goodbye to Ann and holding the door open for Yusuke and Ren in the process. Once they’re outside, he shuts the door and gestures down the street in the direction of the train station. 

Yusuke dashes ahead with definite purpose, leaving Goro and Ren trailing behind. 

Goro is going to be sure to give Yusuke an earful once they get back home.

“So… String Bean,” Ren says slowly, gripping the canvas tightly. “She really liked you.”

“So it seems,” he mumbles in reply. It comes off as more miserable than he had intended. “I can’t imagine why, though. Aren’t all cats like that? Curious, I mean.”

“She’s actually been pretty shy so far. Usually she just hides under stuff, so I was kind of surprised to see her staring at you.” Pause. “And I was even more surprised that she let you hold her.”

“Aha… really?” Goro says, trying to be vague.

“Yeah. What, do you not like cats or something?”

“No, no… cats are fine, I just…” he licks his lips, “I’ve never held a cat before. I was a little worried.”

“Well, you did fine. She seemed to like it.”

“That’s because you were petting her the entire time.”

Ren frowns. “Okay, but it’s still a pretty big deal that she let you hold her. She doesn’t even let Ann do that. Only me and now you.”

Goro huffs, trying to stagger the conversation. He can’t tell if this is Ren trying to toss curtained compliments at him or if he’s just very enamored by String Bean’s behavior. It may be a mix of both.

Ren always does this, though. He gives the most innocuous compliments— _ Your shoes look nice. That sweater matches your hair. Your skin is so clear. Your nails are so well taken care of.  _ They’re specific enough to show that Ren is looking closely at Goro, but too indirect to specifically be considered flirting, which is the problematic part.

At least, Goro doesn’t think it’s considered flirting. 

He doesn’t understand what game Ren is playing at. 

“Uh, anyway…” Ren mutters, touching the ends of his hair, “you’ve got finals soon, right?”

Fortunately, this is something Goro can easily make conversation about. He nods. “Yes, in two days. Tomorrow is my last day to really intensely study for them.”

“You seem smart, though.” Ren smiles, all teethy and warm. Goro wants to wipe it off. “I mean—uh, just from the way you talk”

He raises an eyebrow at this. He has no idea if this is a jab at the way he speaks or if it’s an honest statement. “Are you saying that I talk in a patronizing way?” 

“No, no!” If he weren’t holding a canvas right now, Ren would probably be frantically waving his hands all over the place. “I really like the way you talk. Um—it’s… just… nice to listen to.”

Impossibly, Goro’s eyebrow shoots up even higher; he seems to have caught Ren in a trap. With a smirk, he asks, “Oh, I’m nice to listen to?”

Blush spreads at an incredibly face rate all across Ren’s cheeks. He looks at the ground. “Yeah. That’s what I said.”

Goro grins. Although he still isn’t sure whether or not this counts at flirting, it’s nice to see Ren being the one blushing instead of himself for once. 

They spend the rest of the walk to the station in silence, save for the sound of their footsteps  _ tap tap tapping _ against the sidewalk in an uneven rhythm. Goro needs some Advil.

It’s frustrating. It’s frustrating, doing this dance around Ren’s constant attention grabs, and it’s frustrating having to stifle his feelings toward him as well—especially when it’s just the two of them. 

Dating is just not a viable thing for Goro. There are too many things wrong with him, with that prospect, et cetera. And, more than that, he’s almost certain that Ren is not flirting. It’s all in his head.

They reach the station. Ren hands the canvas over to Yusuke, but before he does so, he leans it against his leg and gives him a hug. “Good luck on finals!” he says, and something sour makes its way into Goro’s mouth.

It doesn’t last for long, though, because then Ren is hugging Goro as well. Goro can feel something being slipped into his pocket, and he almost jumps at the sensation. Once they’ve parted, Ren says the same thing he had to Yusuke: “Good luck on finals!”

On the train, Goro reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of paper. It must be what Ren had put there.

“What’s that?” Yusuke asks, craning his neck.

“It’s from Ren, I think,” he mumbles, holding it out in front of himself.

Goro unfolds the piece of paper and opens it up.  _ Good luck on finals,  _ it reads.  _ Don’t stress out too much. I know you’re gonna do great. And when you’re finished with your last one, come to the cafe so we can celebrate.  _ _ ♡ Ren. _

“My,” Yusuke says simply.

Goro bites his lip and stuffs the paper back into his pocket without giving any kind of reply.  _ My  _ is right.

* * *

Even though he’s very nervous about it, the day he finishes his last final, Goro goes to the cat cafe like Ren had asked him to. He goes for two reasons: the first being that he’s hoping Ren will give him a free drink, and the second being that he can’t help and be curious as to whether or not there was some secret message in that note from a few days ago. In fact, he’s even brought the note along with him. 

Because Yusuke isn’t finished with his own finals, Goro has to go to this  _ celebration  _ on his own. Fortunately, though, Ann is sitting behind the counter when he opens up the door, so at least there will be someone to give him vague moral support.

Plus, there are customers here. It’s only the late afternoon.

“Hey, Goro!” Ann shouts from across the room. He immediately frowns, because he can only assume that she’s done this to get Ren’s attention—and it has worked. Ren quickly turns around at the counter and waves an arm.

Goro walks up to the counter, because he can’t do anything else. “Making coffee?” he asks, looking at Ren, who is very clearly making coffee. 

“Yeah.” Ren hands the drink to a customer standing just next to Goro with a little smile. “Do you want something? Today was your last final, right?”

“Oh, um, yes, it was.” He pauses. “Is it free?”

“Is what free?”

“Will my coffee be free?”

Ren laughs. “Yes, it’ll be free. Want anything special?”

“Just what I usually have is fine,” Goro mumbles with a hand wave. “I’m going to sit.”

“I’ll join you after I make your drink,” Ren says, a little too quickly. “So save me a spot too.”

Goro does as he is told because truly, he has no other options. He sits down in a corner sofa and places his bag next to himself to save the spot for Ren, who makes his coffee in record time. This is both good and bad, because on one hand, Goro doesn’t have to spend  _ forever _ staring at people and cats and his phone in order to waste time while he waits; on the other hand, though, Ren is stressing him out. And to make matters even more ridiculous, when he sits down next to Goro, he’s also holding String Bean.

“She missed you,” Ren says, awkwardly handing over the coffee. Goro wonders if Ren is projecting his feelings onto this cat.

“I’m sure she did.” Goro pets String Bean despite his mixed emotions on this entire situation because she is looking at him with very big, round eyes and it’s very easy to give in when things are cute like that. 

Goro tells himself that he’s not applying this thought to Ren, but it is a weak lie.

He drinks his coffee and it burns his tongue. It’s just what he needed.

“So, did all your finals go well?” Ren asks, smiling slightly.

“They were all right,” Goro says. “I wish I had started studying earlier for the last one. I was more confident about how well I knew the material than I should have been.”

“You always say that and then end up getting the highest grades in the whole school or whatever.”

Goro laughs. “Hardly.” He takes another sip of the coffee and pretends that there is no tension between the two of them. “Though I’m honored that you seem to have so much faith in my academic abilities.”

“I mean, you’re definitely more diligent than I am.” 

“I wouldn’t know. You never talk to me about your schoolwork.”

Ren always talks about the cafe. Goro always talks about school. It’s a convenient way for both of them to avoid talking about their personal lives, even though sometimes Goro wants to open up. Sometimes he wants Ren to open up, too, but isn’t sure of the likelihood of that.

Goro knows that he is pushing Ren away constantly. He just doesn’t want to be fooled by him, so the best thing to do is— 

“You’ve just never asked. I’m a simple English major.”

Right. He had forgotten that they were having a conversation about this. 

“You don’t have to wait for me to ask things. You can tell me about those things on your own time, you know.”

Ren sighs. “I wish you’d take your own advice, Goro.”

Goro scrunches up his nose, not wanting to admit to his hypocrisy. 

He quickly unscrunches, realizing that this is actually a perfect segue for him to ask Ren about the note. It’s a bit unfortunate that they’re out in public like this, but this whole day Goro has been worried that Ren is playing a great, big joke on him. He needs to know now.

“All right, then,” he starts, slowly, reaching into his pocket for the piece of paper, “can you explain this, then?”

When Goro hands Ren the note, he does it in a far more aggressive manner than he had originally intended. Ren doesn’t even read it; he knows what it is just from a single look at his own handwriting. He sighs and holds the note in his hand like it’s a flopping fish.

“This is a note I wrote you,” he says, obvious, and Goro thinks fire is going to come out of his nostrils in a second.

“I know that.” The words come out gritted, like sand against flip-flops. “What’s the meaning behind it?”

“How—What do you mean, ‘the meaning behind it?’ Isn’t it obvious? I’m congratulating you on finishing finals.”

“All right, then why didn’t you slip Yusuke one of these notes?” If Goro were still holding the piece of paper, this would be the point where he waves it around in the air all temperamentally. “I wish you’d admit that you’re just trying to play around with my feelings, Ren.”

“I’m trying to do  _ what _ ?”

“You’re—you’re clearly mocking me, or making fun of me because you know I like you, or something. That’s why you draw these senseless hearts and lead me on with the cat and—”

Ren stares at String Bean, who sits on his thigh, sleeping, and then looks back up. “Goro, I’m not doing that.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not.” Gently, he lifts up String Bean, and places her on the couch to sleep. “I didn’t even know you felt that way about me.”

Time slows down significantly once Ren says this. The particles in the air all cover their mouths in shock and whisper and buzz to one another. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not lying! I have no reason to lie about this.” 

Goro bites his lip. “I’m sorry,” he says, not sure how to handle how stupid he feels.

Ren only sighs at first. Beside him, String Bean continues to sleep, unaware of the terrible tension. “Want to go for a walk?”

This is most definitely not what Goro thought he was going to say next. He frowns, gripping the cup of coffee in his hand like it’s a buoy in the ocean, and nods in an all-too-serious fashion. “But aren’t you working?”

“Ann can cover for me. It’ll just be a short walk, to get away from all the customers.”

Goro doesn’t know why he’s agreeing to this, seeing as it’s definitely going to lead to something even more problematic than what’s going on right now—but before he knows it he is out the door, standing beside Ren, and walking down the street with him. 

It’s going to be hard to suffocate now that he’s accidentally blurted out his feelings to Ren. 

“Do you really think of me so poorly?” Ren asks after a small moment of silence passes. He kicks a rock with his shoe. 

“No,” Goro says, and Ren gives him a look. “I really don’t!”

“Then why have you been mentally accusing me of leading you on or something for the past I-don’t-know-how-many months?”

“It’s more an issue of my own poor emotional capacity than your behavior,” he admits slowly. And there certainly is a lot of truth to the statement. “I just have a habit of shifting blame onto other people at times.”

“I’m not sure whether or not I should be flattered.”

“You can if you like.” Goro sighs. He wishes that he were bacteria. “I’m sorry, again.”

“It’s whatever. Sorry for acting like I was leading you on, I guess. Even though I was actually trying to do the complete opposite. You know that when people put hearts in their signatures it usually means something, right?”

“You could have been doing that with Yusuke and Ann.”

“Ann has a girlfriend, and you’re literally always hanging out with Yusuke and have never seen me flirt as ostentatiously with him as I do with you. If at all.”

“I seem to have dug myself into a hole,” Goro says, laughing lightly, because he can’t help and give a chuckle at his constant tendency to inflict misfortune upon himself. “Pardon the oblivious question, I just want to make sure—but you do like me, right?”

“I like you. In multiple senses. Hope that’s fine with you.” Ren kicks another stone. It falls into a sewer grate. 

More laughter. This time, though, it might be because of nerves. “Well, good.”

“ _ Good— _ “

“Because I feel the same way. Clearly.”

Clearly. 

Ren stops walking. He turns to Goro and tilts his head a bit, as if scrutinizing him. Judging. Thinking. Et cetera. Goro stands still, lets him do it, glances to the side every now and then. 

“Are you free tomorrow?” 

Goro answers without a moment’s hesitation: “Yes. All day.”

If Ren were anyone else, he would have called Goro desperate. But he doesn't because he is Ren, and he is kind. Instead he simply smiles. “Great. I am too. Want to get lunch? Or see a movie? Ann says that she saw a good horror film the other day.”

“I’d like that,” Goro says, completely breathless. It’s strange how one moment is sometimes nothing like the next. 

“Me too,” Ren whispers, dropping a kiss onto Goro’s lips that leaves him so surprised that he is speechless when he pulls away. 

Goro touches his lips. He’d never admit it, but he’s never been kissed before. 

* * *

Goro doesn’t know how it happens, but he ends up adopting String Bean.

He supposes that it had originally been Yusuke’s idea. Even though the semester was over, they still spent time in the cat cafe during the evenings and nights—just the four of them. String Bean was still as attached to Goro as ever. One night, when she was sitting on his shoulder, Yusuke had said in passing,  _ I think you should adopt her. Our apartment is pet friendly. _

After that, it took just a bit of convincing from Ren and Ann, a bit of permission from the cafe’s manager—he bought some toys just for String Bean and gave Goro an entire printed page full of information on String Bean’s known food preferences—and then she was officially Goro’s. 

She sleeps with Goro at night, and always waits by the door to greet him when he gets home. She still remembers Ren, too, when he comes over, and it’s very sweet.

And the best part of all of this is that Goro doesn’t have to suffocate anymore. Instead, he can drink the strange coffee mixtures Ren makes him, he can hold Ren’s hand, he can kiss him on the forehead when he falls asleep early.

Goro can do that and not worry about a thing. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!
> 
> yes, the manager of the cafe is katsuya suou.


End file.
